French opposition agree to new leadership vote

The rivals in a bitter leadership row that has divided France's former ruling party, the rightwing UMP of Nicolas Sarkozy, have agreed to a new internal election after the results of the first vote threw the party into disarray.

Jean-Francois Cope and his rival Francois Fillon, Mr Sarkozy's former prime minister, said in a statement they had agreed to hold a new vote by October next year for the leadership of the Union for a Popular Movement. Both men had claimed victory after the initial poll in November.

"A new election for the presidency of the UMP will take place before the resumption of the regular parliamentary session of October 2013 at the latest," they said.

The deal aims to put an end to a month-long war that has threatened to bring about the collapse of the UMP, the political heir to the movement founded by Charles de Gaulle after the Second World War.

The post of party leader is seen as the inside track to a candidacy for the next presidential election in 2017.

Previously, Mr Cope, who was declared the narrow winner of the first vote, had refused any fresh vote before the 2014 local elections.